Coke oven reinforcing means



May 7, c QTTQ COKE OVEN REINFORCING MEANS Filed Nov. 1, 1937 INVENTOR64/12 0770 BY 3: #wzfi ATTORN EY Patented May 7, 1940 UNITED STATES COKEOVEN REINFORCING MEANS 'Carl Otto, Essen, Germany, assignor to Fuel Refining Corporation, Dover, Del., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationNovember 1, 1937, Serial No. 172,125

In Germany December 18, 1936 7 Claims.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a horizontalcoke oven battery oven having preheating means below the oven chamber,with improved means for reinforcing the oven brickwork at the sides ofthe battery, so as to minimize trouble due to the considerably greaterthermal expansion increase in battery width at levels adjacent andbetween the top and bottom of the oven chambers than at levels adjacentthe top and bottom of the brickwork mass.

In the construction of coke ovens of the above mentioned type, it is thesubstantially universal practice to provide vertically disposed metallicposts or buckstays, one in front of, and bearing against each end ofeach of the heating walls alongside each coking chamber, and to connectthe upper end of each such buckstay at one side of the battery to thedirectly opposed buckstay at the other side of the battery by a tie rod,and to anchor the lower end of each buckstay, as by means of an anchorbelt imbedded in the support or foundation for the brickwork mass, inwhich the coking chambers, heating fiues, and air preheating provisionsare incorporated. While the buckstays are employed to control theexpansion to some extent, and to minimize the battery deformationresulting therefrom, they are not intended to prevent the battery fromincreasing in width as it is heated up, or to prevent the increase inwidth from being considerably greater adjacent and between the ovenfloor level and the level of the tops of the oven chambers than atlevels adjacent the top and adjacent the bottom of the batterybrickwork. On the contrary, it is customary to interpose springs, leadplates or other yielding devices between the buckstays and the nuts onthe tie and stay bolts through which said bolts operatively engage theends of the buckstays, which yield as the battery expands in width. Theyielding devices are of such stiffness, however, that the buckstays areordinarily bowed outwardly to an appreciable extent, as a result of therelatively large increase in battery width adjacent and between thelevels of the tops and bottoms of the oven chambers at the oven levelthan at lower levels.

Heretofore various expedients had been proposed to minimize and controlthe bowing of the buckstays, and other objectionable results of thebattery expansion conditions giving rise to that bowing, but all of suchprior expedients have been found inadequate or open to practicalobjection, which it is the object of the present in.- vention to avoid.

In accordance with the present invention, the

bowing of the buckstays by the battery brickwork expansion, is regulatedand minimized by means of a brace which is attached to the lower portionof each buckstay and extends outwardly therefrom, and which is of aspecial form or type which may be designated as semi-portal orsemitruss. The specially formed truss is characterized by its inclusionof a portion which extends outwardly from the buckstay for several feet,and is subjected to a depressing force by the force tending to bow thebuckstay and which is prevented from moving downward under saiddepressing force by a post or strut, provided for the purpose and havingits upper end in supporting engagement with the said brace portion, and

which has an earth support independent of the battery structure.

While the invention permits of the use of a rigid brace structurerigidly attached to the buckstay along the length of a considerableporiii] tion of the buckstay below the oven floor level, i

the brace advantageously comprises parts hinged or flexibly connected toone another, and hinged or otherwise flexibly connected to the buckstayadjacent the oven floor level, and also at a considerably lower level.In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the brace comprises a headbeam and a tension member. Said head beam extends horizontally away fromthe buckstay adjacent the oven floor level and has one end hinged to thebuckstay while its other end forms the portion of the brace engaging asupporting post. The said tension member is a jointed structure and ishinge connected to the head beam adjacent the respective ends of thelatter, and is hinge connected to the buckstay adjacent the lower end ofthe latter. Advantageously, the tension member includes a turnbuckle orthe like arranged for easy manipulation and adapted to adjust the lengthof a tension connection formed by the member between the outer end ofthe head beam and the lower portion of the buckstay, in the initial ovenheating up operation, or whenever changes in operating conditions makesuch adjustment desirable. In a particularly advantageous form of thepresent invention, the head beams of the tension members at each side ofthe battery, serve as supports for the platform or bench, customarilyprovided at.

that side of the battery, at a level, which ordinarily is slightly belowthe oven floor level.

For a further understanding of the invention .and its advantages andobjects, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing anddescriptive matter, in which I have illustrated a preferred embodimentof the invention. Of the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a portion of a coke oven battery; and

Fig. 2 is a partial section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

The coke oven battery structure conventionally illustrated by way ofexample, in the drawing, is of a well known and extensively used type,commonly referred to as the Otto underfired type, in which the brickworkmass in which the coking chamber I and regenerator spaces 2 are formed,rests on a reinforced concrete slab 4, carried by pillars 3. The majorelements of the brickwork mass comprises the battery cover or roof 5,the heating walls 6, one between each adjacent pair of coking chambersand each ordinarily formed with vertical heating fines, an oven bottomor base portion 1, regenerator brickwork 8, and the walls 9, of theregenerator sole channels Hi. In front of, and engaging the centralportion of each heating wall end and the subjacent regeneratorpartition. wall, is an anchor post or buckstay H. Each buckstay H isconnected at its upper end to the directly opposite buckstay at theother side of the battery, by a corresponding pair of tie rods l2located above the oven roof 5. The lower end of each buckstay isanchored to the slab Q by means of an anchor bolt 13 extending into andsecured in the slab. Reversing valves may be connected to the outer endsof the channels It, in the customary manner. As shown, springs l5 and itare inter-' posed between the upper and lower ends of each buckstay andthe nuts on the corresponding tie rod and anchor bolts, so that theforce impressed by said bolts on the buckstay, and through the latter onthe battery brickwork, is transmitted to the buckstay by said springsand corresponding to the tension thereof.

In front of, and connected to each buclmtay I I is a brace member in theform of a semi-portal or semi-truss, comprising a head beam i9,extending horizontally away from the buckstay at a level a shortdistance below the oven fioor level. As shown, the beam 19 is formed oftwo oppositely facing channel bars and rests loosely upon an angle barpart 21 secured to the corresponding buckstay against the outer edge ofwhich the adjacent end of the beam l9 abuts. The outer end of the beaml9 rests on the upper end of a vertical post or strut 20. Each bracealso comprises a tension member, which in the form shown comprises threeiron bars or rods, each formed with an eye at each end.

The lower ends of the bars 22 and 23, and the upper end of the bar 24are pivotally connected to a connecting element 25, which advantageouslyconsists of a pair of metal plates spaced away from one another topermit the ends of the bars to extend between the plates. Each bar ismechanically connected to the plates of element 25, by a bolt 25 passingthrough the eye at the end of the bar. The lower 'end of the bar 24 ispivotally connected by a bolt 21 passing through the eye at the lowerend of the bar, to a bracket 2'! secured to the corresponding buckstayH, adjacent the lower end of the latter. The upper end of the bar 22extends into the space between the two channel bars forming the beam isand is connected to said channel bars adjacent their ends in engagementwith the buckstay H by a bolt 28. The upper end of the bar 23 alsoextends into the space between the channel bars forming the beam l9, andis connected thereto, adjacent the outer end of the beam, by a bolt 29.

The bolt 29 also passes through plate-like parts 30 secured to the upperends of oppositely facing channel bars constituting the verticalelements of the upright support or post 2|]. The latter, as shown, restson a roller element 3|, supported as shown on the masonry 33 surroundingthe usual waste heat tunnel or flue extending longitudinally of thebattery at the side of the latter. As shown, the rod 2 is divided intotwo end to end sections connected by a turn-buckle 34, which is readilyaccessible for adjustment by a workman in the gallery or passageway 35above the masonry 33, and between the battery structure and the posts20.

In the preferred construction illustrated, the usual bench at the sideof the battery and at a level slightly below the oven floor level, isformed by a series of end to end cement slabs 36, ordinarily reinforcedin the usual manner, and each having its ends extending into overlappingengagement with, and supported by, the horizontal flanges of adjacentchannel bar portions of the two adjacent head beams [9.

The location of air preheating provisions, such as the regenerators ofthe construction shown, in the portion of the battery brickwork beneaththe oven chambers contributes, when the battery is heated up, to thelarge and more or less gradual decrease in brickwork temperature of theheat from the oven floor level to the bottom of said brickwork.

In heating up a coke oven battery provided with my improved reinforcingmeans, the expansion of the brickwork, as its temperature rises,increases the battery width adjacent and between the levels of the topsand bottoms of the oven chambers relative to the battery width at thetop and bottom of the battery. In consequence, the portion of eachbuckstay ll intermediate said levels, and the corresponding beams H! aremoved horizontally away from the longitudinal central plane of thebattery. Corresponding horizontal movements of the ends of the buckstayare opposed by the corresponding tie rod l2 and stay bolt :3, whichthereby tend to bow or bend the buckstay outward. Such bowing or bendingof the buckstay tends to lower the outer end of the corresponding headbeam I9. Down movement of the outer end of the beam I9 is prevented,however, by the corresponding strut or post 20. Such bending or bowingof the buckstay tends, therefore, to an increase in the distance betweenthe lower end of the buckstay and the outer end of the beam it, but thetension connection between the lower portion of the buckstay and thebeam l9 opposes an increase in the last mentioned distance. As will beapparent, the resultant stresses to which the different bar or rodelements 22, 23. and 24 are subjected, are all tension stresses, and asthe heating up operation proceeds, the tension stress to which each ofsaid bars is subjected, may be minimized, and kept within safe limits,by rotation of the turnbuckle 34 from time to time to suitably increasethe effective length of the bar 24.

The formation of the tension connection between each beam IS and thelower end of the 001 responding buckstay, by the three bars 22, 23, and24, pivotally connected to one another by the connecting means 25, asdescribed, is especially advantageous, because it displaces said tensionconnection away from the line extending between the outer-end of thebeam 19 and the bracket 21 and toward the battery, whereby the width ofthe portion of the gallery passage or space 35 through which the batteryattendants may move, is increased.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combinationin a horizontal coke oven battery structure havingcoking chambers and walls formed with heating iiues alternating withsaid chambers, said chambers and walls extending between the opposingsides of the battery, and having air preheating means below the ovenchambers, of vertical buckstays at the sides of the battery, one infront of and adapted to engage each end of each of said walls, separatebracing devices for the different buckstays, each device including arigid element having a portion engaging the corresponding buckstayadjacent the oven fioor level and held against movement relative to saidbuckstay downwardly or inwardly toward said battery structure andextending outwardly away from the battery, a tension connection betweensaid element and the lower portion of said buckstay, and means engaginga portion of said element at a distance from the battery and opposingdownward movement of the last mentioned portion.

2. A combination as specified in claim 1, in which the element of eachbracing device extending outwardly from the battery adjacent the ovenfloor level is a horizontal beam.

3. A combination as specified in claim 1, in which the bracing devicesat one side of the battery provide supports for a bench or platformadjacent the oven floor level.

4. A combination as specified in claim 1, in which the said element ofeach of the bracing devices at one side of the battery, is a horizontalbeam having a horizontal flange extending away from the beam at eachside of the latter, and in which concrete platform slabs are supportedby the adjacent flanges of each adjacent pair of said beams, wherebysaid slabs form a bench or platform at the side of the battery.

5. A combination as specified in claim 1, in which the tensionconnection of each bracing device is adjustable to permit variations inthe distance between the lower end of the corresponding buckstay and thesaid portion at a distance from the battery of the said rigid element.

6 The combination in a horizontal coke oven battery structure havingcoking chambers and walls formed with heating fiues alternating withsaid chambers, said chambers and walls extending between the opposingsides of the battery, and having air preheating means below the ovenchambers, of vertical buckstays at the sides of the battery, one infront of, and adapted to engage one end of each of said walls, separatebracing devices for the different buck stays, each of said devicesincluding a beam extending horizontally away from the battery adjacentthe oven floor level and having one end abutting against thecorresponding buckstay, means connected to the latter supporting saidone end of said beam against down movement, a tension member pivotallyconnected at its upper end to said beam adjacent the outer end of thelatter, a second tension member pivotally connected at its upper end tosaid beam adjacent said one end of the latter, a third tension memberhaving its upper end pivotally connected to the lower ends of the twofirst mentioned tension members, and a piv- ,otal connection between thelower end of said third tension member and the buckstayadjacent thelower end of the latter, and supporting means engaging and preventingdown movement of the end of said beam remote from the battery.

7. The combination in a horizontal coke oven battery structure havingcoking chambers and walls formed with heating flues alternating withsaid chambers, said chambers and walls extending between the opposingsides of the battery and having air preheating means below the ovenchambers, of vertical buckstays at the sides of the battery, one infront of, and adapted to engage one end of each of said walls, separatebracing devices for the different buckstays, each of said devicesincluding a beam extending horizontally away from the battery adjacentthe oven fioor level and having one end abutting against thecorresponding buckstay, means connected to the latter and supportingsaid one end of said beam against down movement, a tension memberpivotally connected at its upper end to said beam adjacent the outer endof the latter,

a second tension member pivotally connected at its upper end to saidbeam adjacent said one end of the latter, a third tension member havingits upper end pivotally connected to the lower ends of the two firstmentioned tension members, a pivotal connection between the lower end ofsaid third tension member and the buckstay adjacent the lower end of thelatter, one of said tension members including a turnbuckle for adjustingthe effective length of the member, and thereby of the tensionconnection collectively formed by said members between said beam and thelower portion of' said buckstay, and supporting means engaging andpreventing down movement of the end of said beam remote from thebattery.

CARL OTTO.

